Welcome!

Welcome to my Polish blog! My Polish great grandpa was orphaned during the Chicago flu epidemic of 1918 & spent his life looking for all of his siblings. Some family stayed in Chicago & some returned to Poland. Some family was Catholic, & some are believed to be Jewish. I post the things I learn in efforts it may help someone else in their research. I also hope this blog helps me connect with others that know about the people I'm learning about. Digital images of records or links are put inside most postings so you can view records full screen. I encourage comments. Feel free to sign the guestbook, stating who you're looking for. Maybe we can all help each other out this way, because there are many challenges with Polish research. I hope you enjoy learning with me. And I hope to be taught more about my Polish heritage.I have added a few languages to this blog through Google translate. I hope that it may be accurate enough with the communication of ideas. Thanks! -Julie

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Google Translate

25 October 2011

There are only two Stanley Sanetras that I (or anyone I've ever talked to) has ever heard of in America, born about 1904. One is our Stanley Sanetra, son of Adam and Rosalie, born in Evanston, Cook, Illinois. (Two months after Rosalie and Adam arrived in America). The other Stanley was born about 1904, in Żywiec-Zabłocie Poland, son of Thomas Sanetra and Jadwiga Biel. Thomas, Jadwiga, all their children and Jadwiga's mother Regina immigrated in 1913 and went to Minneapolis. This Stanley, (son of Thomas) to my understanding, remained in Minneapolis the rest of his life. Since that is my understanding, that would lead me to believe that this article is about my relative Stanley Sanetra, who my family hasn't seen since the doors of the orphanage in 1919 in Chicago.

Click on the article to view full screen. This article was in the Kokomo, Indiana newspaper, Dec 23, 1950. The age matches our Stanley (both Stanleys). There was a train fire with 11 people hurt. The windows were all smashed in it. Stanley Sanetra was taken to the hospital and treated for cuts on wrists. The article said this specifically about Stanley " Stanley Sanetra, 47, Chicago, a North Shore track worker, cuts on wrists."

I imagine this was quite an ordeal. I also expect some people still living who would remember that event, or at least hearing about it. If you remember this Stanley and this event, please email me. This is the first time we've ever seen mention of a Stanley Sanetra outside of Milwaukee, after the day the kids were admitted to the orphanage in 1919. Stanley's siblings wrote everywhere they could think of for years looking for Stanley and Bronislawa. Paul (Stanley's brother) literally wrote hundreds of letters for the rest of his life trying to find Stanley and never did. I have pictures and letters the siblings wanted Stanley's family to have, to tell about us, and we wish so much to know about Stanley.

11 October 2011

Familysearch now has 2.34 billion indexed records available, of course for free! About a million records are added to family search every month. All free, because it is all volunteers, wanting to make records accessible. This is a 3 minute video explaining how a project took place between a historical society and familysearch. The lady in the video also gives some good info on how familysearch wiki can help you in your research. This is how I believe we will start getting access to records in Poland. A few projects are already underway. This is how some of the Chicago records are already on familysearch (marriage and birth records). The more historical societies and churches that work with familysearch, the more accessible the records become. The more volunteers indexing and digitizing, the more quickly and accessible the records will become available to everyone.

Here are two pages specifically about Polish research on familysearch and wiki pages:

There are millions of records world wide being uploaded monthly. Newer collections include church records from Hungary, Russia, Ukraine, Sweeden and Portugal. Familysearch is not just about US records! Here is a screen shot for a Polish project, as of today, showing a description of the project. Click on icon to view full screen):
There are 2,341,753 records in this collection. The last upload for this collection was 20 Sept 2011, with 1,002,155.